Actually it was a different campaign by the same company, Phone Halo. As you can see from the link you posted they have let down the backers of that project too.
Their software is terrible, I wrote an iOS App in less then a day that was better then what they provide. The longer oval beacons themselves were actually not the issue. just really, really bad software.
I've known these guys since they came up with the PhoneHalo idea and won a UCSB business/tech competition.
"refused to listen"
"steer clear"
"company behind it is crooked"
Those are epic accusations from a 2 month old account. This technology is hard and these guys are working their asses off. I'm sure it's buggy and there are issues but WOW just WOW with your vitriol. I hope the HackerNews community downvotes these baseless accusations.
A look at their project page on Indiegogo (before they started deleting comments) would validate everything I'm saying.
There are many reasons for me and many others to feel the way we do about this company.
The original product offered had no branding and included support for android devices with bluetooth 4.0. Some time after funding was completed backers where contacted regarding a design change and a choice of options, all of which included the company logo on the front of the device. Many backers voiced their concerns with this as the device would no longer be inconspicuous to would be thieves who could easily remove it. Those concerned backers were completely ignored and the logo was put on regardless.
There were many delays in shipping the product, this along with a lack of communication left us backers feeling like we'd been had. Eventually we were told that the products would be shipped, after more delays it turns out that the team decided to use our money to go to CES, money I feel should of been spent on improving the product as they don't work.
Now that the products have shipped Phone Halo has decided to drop support for android devices that are not running 4.4, which is currently 2.5% of android devices. Although this does not effect me I feel it is extremely dishonest for those with other android devices who backed the project.
Also how does the age of my account devalue my opinion?
Updates for reasoning behind all of our decisions was made public, we fulfilled perks to our backers, and have been continuously upgrading devices plus apps based on user feedback. It's called a start up and yes, things change.
As to your account and that you only choose to comment only here and have no other submissions, it leads me to question who you are and if you actually are an indiegogo backer. If you are, if you shoot a mail to support at phonehalo.com, they respond within 24 hours and have resolved 99% of all issues.
Its funny you should mention accounts cgherb aka Chris Herbert (founder of Phone Halo), judging from your response it seems that you are also posting under the username of seeingfurther, is this true?
Rather than taking my criticisms onboard you choose to accuse me of having an ulterior motive, despite many backers having the same grievances as me.
My complaints are not only with the product itself but your treatment of backers, this cannot be solved via a support email as the decisions have already been made and the damage done.
It's called a start up and yes, things change.
Unfortunately this is the exact arrogance you have shown throughout the campaign. "Things change" is that how you explain dropping support for those who got your project off the ground?
It's equally annoying that they can't only cater to the US without someone who isn't from the US getting annoyed about it. Why do they have to be international? What if they only want to serve US customers? It's not a crime or even bad.
So they should make it clear on the landing page, not just imply it by putting up a form without country field. It just reeks of US-centrism and ignoring that there are other countries out there.
Probably that wasn't clear. I was annoyed because it didn't have any warnings on the signup form for being US-only. It made me waste time filling the form, only to see that there wasn't even a country selection. It's like assuming there's only one country.
Of course you can cater to US only. But never forget that USA is not the only English-speaking country and English is a universal language. Combining these, many people may assume that you're doing international business if you don't say otherwise on your web page.
1. I need to find something, I tell trackr the id of my token.
2. trackr tells other trackr users the id to look for.
3. trackr enabled phones search in vicinity for it.
What happens when trackr enabled phones decide not to report back their findings...Sounds like a fun treasure hunt competition.
Not even that. They have "crowd-sourced" location service of your items, meaning that each of their users acts like a scanner for all tracker devices out there. This is ripe for abuse.
What abuse? Apart from tagging valuable objects in a way that makes them easier to find. That let's someone could go through apparently deserted areas (like after a concert) and find valuables left behind.
But the actual privacy part shouldn't be too bad, right? They could use a time-based code, so that each beacon transmits a seemingly-random ID every minute, and only their servers can link that up to something.
If it's static, then yeah, it's like tagging yourself. Or carrying a modern passport. Or phone or laptop. It's a shame that most people will probably not really care about this aspect.
This is not like carrying a passport, phone or computer at all.
I can be tracked without my knowledge - somebody just needs to plant a minature tracker in my laptop bag.
Edit: The issue is that everybody tracks everybody, not like with Tile or Chipolo - where you only track your own tags with your own smartphone (ie: you need to be near your tagged items to track them, which makes covert location tracking of persons hard).
Eh, if that's the threat you're worried about, it's really just a race against time. For $15 you can already get a GSM+GPS "mini" (not micro) tracker. That was just a quick search. I'd be surprised if there are not smaller models already easily available.
Sure, a BLE beacon is gonna be easier to make small and power than a completely self-contained unit but it's not like this creates an entirely new threat.
1. Literally works for years compared to days.
2. Much smaller.
3. Works everywhere where people carry their phones (underground substructures impenetrable by GPS and GSM).
Aren't there like a dozen of this type of device/ecosystem right now? I really don't see any reason to buy into this type of thing before one really differentiates itself from the rest. I'm glad there are lots of options... but honestly, it's like standing in the paper towel aisle at this point.
Wow, after reading the name I thought I would come here and write a comment about how a more detailed introduction might have helped the project. But reading the other comments this team might have a bigger communication problem. I feel with you, guys. Sometimes even the greatest product can get destroyed by some communication problems.
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"Time's running out to get your free TrackR free!" needs some editing, in my opinion. :) Glad to see more action around trackable objects, each further step towards http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spime is interesting for sure.
it looks nice but the on-boarding process is a shame. Advertising the "get yours free" knowing that the cap has already been achieved is not really honest as for me.
The devices simply don't work and the customer service is awful, they have now started to delete any negative comments on the project page.
The devices that shipped differed from the ones that we backed and the team refused to listen to the backers. The devices also shipped late.
Steer clear people.